The Way Way Back, 2013.
Directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.
Starring Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, and Liam James.
SYNOPSIS:
Shy 14-year-old Duncan goes on summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park.
The Way Way Back is a refreshing film, despite what could be construed as a lack of originality in its premise. It’s a reasonably standard coming-of-age summer story, focusing on awkward fourteen year old Duncan (Liam James) going on an awkward ‘family’ holiday to his mum’s boyfriend’s beach house with mum, said boyfriend and boyfriend’s monstrously sulky older daughter, but the execution of this film is exemplary. It is funny, affecting, witty and, above all, believable. The superior screenplay (written by co-directors, and Oscar-winners for the screenplay of The Descendants with Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash) is also done a great service by the film’s quality cast; it’s a who’s-who of ‘ooh, I know that face’ with Amanda Peet, AnnaSophia Robb and Maya Rudolph all in supporting roles, alongside more established actors like Allison Janney, Sam Rockwell and Steve Carell.
At the film’s beginning, horrendous boyfriend Trent, played with winning wankerishness by Carell, memorably, and excruciatingly, describes Duncan as “a three” (out of ten). This then sets the plot in motion as the tensions between the two simmer and rise during the long, restless summer in a nameless, small and suffocating American town described as a “spring break for adults” by girl-next-door Susanna. Summer all seems to be about the grown-ups as Duncan’s mother (Toni Collette), still clearly in the first throes of lust and grateful to have found an age-appropriate man, is blind to the boredom of Duncan, as well as reluctant to remedy the obvious chaffing in his and Trent’s relationship. All the locals know Trent and are friends for him and Pam. There’s yuppie couple Kip and Joan with a yacht, as well as Susanna’s cocktail-loving mother Betty, jolly and overly-honest (the ever-dependable Alison Janney, almost stealing the film), and determined for Duncan to befriend her too-young nerdy son with a squiffy eye (for which she hilariously constantly berates him).
When Duncan cycles off on his own to find some sanity though the film truly gets going as he stumbles upon the wonderfully old-fashioned, and possibly insane, Water Wizz water park, managed with aplomb by the singular Owen (Sam Rockwell), who he has encountered in town previously. He is a character that is everything Duncan is not: confident, smooth and cool, and he sympathetically decides to take the teenager on as an employee and sort-of protégé.
The Way Way Back is entirely Sam Rockwell’s film. With a gift of a part as Owen, he is charming as well as exasperating, and utterly convincing. The staff of the park (including sensible and frustrated Maya Rudolph and cameos from both directors, Faxon as laid-back Roddy and Rash as camply morose Lewis) may all be trying to leave the water park behind in order to make something of themselves, but for Duncan, just as Owen, the park proves to be the making of him, encouraging him to deal with life, deal with himself, deal with Trent and, in an entirely different way, deal with the idiosyncratic Susanna (Robb hitting just the right note). Liam James is thoroughly good too in his first lead film role, displaying real credibility as a painfully shy and often clueless kid.
Despite outward impressions, The Way Way Back is a much more satisfying and a richer film than other coming-of-age summer dramas. Its tight script and pacing, realistic and well-drawn characters and top-notch cast ensure that this indie rises well above the ranks of 2013’s other fare and demands to be enjoyed. Way more than a three.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Tori Brazier
Originally published August 12, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
